Peshawar attack: US investigators begin probe

Peshawar: A four-member team of American
investigators today began their probe into the terrorist
attack on the US consulate here that killed at least three
persons before six assailants were gunned down.

The US team, soon after its arrival from Islamabad,
visited the site of yesterday`s audacious attack and collected
evidence.

They also took photographs of the site, littered with
rubble from nearby buildings that were damaged in the attack.

A group of heavily armed militants set off explosives
and fired with automatic weapons in an attempt to storm the US
consulate.

Two Pakistani guards at the consulate were among
those killed in the attack.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility
for the strike and warned more attacks against Americans.

Local police said they had found the engines of the
two explosives-laden vehicles used by the attackers.

The engines have been sent for forensic tests.

Officials said the bodies of the attackers were
mutilated by the explosions and they are yet to be identified.

North West Frontier Province police chief Malik
Naveed Khan has formed a two-member team headed by Peshawar
police chief Liaquat Khan to probe the attack.

This was the first time in four years a US mission in
Pakistan was attacked by terrorists. The last attack on an
American mission in Pakistan was in Karachi in 2006.

The blasts in Peshawar occurred hours after a suicide
bomber struck a political gathering at Timergara in Lower Dir
district, killing nearly 50 people and injuring about 100
others.

45 people injured in the attacks in Timergara
and Peshawar are being treated at the Lady Reading Hospital
and officials described the condition of three of them as
critical.

The Awami National Party, whose workers were killed
in the attack in Timergara, has called for mourning across the
NWFP.